3. Detention of Rejected Asylum Seekers and People Subject to Return Orders Even prior to 2020, the authorities on the Aegean islands detained essentially all asylum seekers as soon as they received a second rejection in order to prepare for their readmission to Turkey.106 Asylum seekers on Leros, Chios, and Samos – where there was no PRDC – were generally detained in police stations before being transferred to one of the two PRDCs on Kos and Lesvos. However, for several reasons the practices on all of the islands have changed in important ways since March 2020. First, readmissions to Turkey have been suspended since March 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic and deteriorating political relations between Turkey and Greece.107 Second, in September 2020, the Lesvos PRDC was destroyed by a fire at the Moria EU Hotspot, leaving Kos with the only remaining functioning PRDC on the islands.108 Consequently, since mid2020 most rejected asylum seekers on Lesvos, Leros, Samos, and Chios have not been detained. Instead, many have been issued so-called ‘voluntary return’ orders requiring them to leave the country in a period of 10 days.109 Although readmissions to Turkey have not taken place since March 2020, the automatic detention of rejected asylum seekers continues on Kos, particularly because of the amendment to the return law in the summer of 2020. Like for people in the asylum procedure, the authorities only make exceptions for unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, and families with children under six months old. As soon as an asylum seeker receives a negative second instance decision her initial deportation decision is “reactivated” and the police will issue her a new detention order under Article 30 Law 3907/2011, based on the fact that she is subject to a return procedure.110 On Kos, the interplay of both legal frameworks – the IPA and Law 3907/2011 – means that individuals are often detained for prolonged periods, in many cases over one year.111 Both the IPA and Law 3907/2011 foresee the possibility that a person could be detained for up to 18 months. In theory, this then means that a person could be detained for 18 months under the IPA and then for another 18 months under Law 3907/2011 – as long as the preconditions for detention are otherwise met – totalling a maximum of 36 months. However, we’ve observed that the police generally release people after 18 months, regardless of which law they are detained under. Even so, people are regularly held in the PRDC for over one year and even the maximum 18 months. Of the 31 people we interviewed for this report, three had been detained for over 12 months at the time of the interview and at least two more were approaching the 12-month mark. 106 AIDA, Country Report: Greece (December 2020), 202, available at: https://bit.ly/3zB7dMF. 107 See e.g., AIDA, Overview of the Main Changes Since the Previous Report Update (10/06/2021), available at: https://bit.ly/3ivQpPH, Answer by Ylva Johanson to Pariamentary Question by MEP Erik Marquardt, Reference No. P-000604/20201, 01/06/2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3ez3E0P. 108 AIDA, Country Report: Greece (June 2021), 200, available at: https://bit.ly/3yBZTPl. 109 Greta Albertari et. al., Consequences of the EU-Turkey Statement: The Situation of Syrian Asylum Seekers on the Greek Aegean Islands, Equal Rights Beyond Borders (July 2021), 33-34, available at: https://bit.ly/3yCnRu4. 110 L. 4636/2019 applies only to applicants for international protection. Art. 2(c) defines an applicant for international protection as “a third-country national or stateless person who declares orally or in writing before any Greek authority […]. and on whose request no final decision has yet been taken.” Art. 63(a) goes on to clarify that a final decision means, inter alia, a decision by the Independent Appeal Committees determining the outcome of an appeal brought against decisions made by the Asylum Service. 111 Both L. 4636/2019 and L. 3907/2011 foresee a maximum detention period of 18 months. In theory, a person can be detained for 18 months under L. 4636/2019 and then another 18 months under L. 3907/2011, a maximum of 36 months. However, in practice on Kos the police seem to release people after 18 months regardless of which law they were detained under. 15 DETENTION OF MIGRANTS ON THE ISLAND OF KOS